


laid our names to rest

by biochemprincess



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Martian (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-17
Updated: 2015-10-17
Packaged: 2018-04-26 20:50:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5020027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/biochemprincess/pseuds/biochemprincess
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>2036. There is an astronaut stranded on Mars. There is an astronaut on Mars and Lucy worries about her Mom.</p>
            </blockquote>





	laid our names to rest

**Author's Note:**

> I watched The Martian the same week 3x02 aired and I just had to write this. I haven't read the book yet, but I did some research and according to the author Andy Weir, the events of The Martian are set in November 2035. They find out about Mark's survival 1 1/2 - 2 months later, so for the sake of this story let's assume it's set in January 2036.
> 
> It's not explicitly necessary to be familiar with The Martian, though I can totally recommend it :)
> 
> Title from the lyrics of 'Mars' by Sleeping At Last.

* * *

 

_“If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do.”_

_\- Andy Weir, The Martian_

 

* * *

 

_January 2036_

 

-

 

Fitz saw the news during an important meeting. He couldn't leave now, not this one. People around him turned up the volume, stunned silence filling them room. The whole world slowed and possibly every pair of eyes was directed at Houston now.

It seemed impossible what they were saying, like a dream both too good and too horrible to be true. But he was long past the point of no return. He didn't think of anything as impossible anymore.

Fitz didn't want to watch the news or sit in a meeting.

He wanted to go home. Immediately.

But he knew that surely wasn't going to happen. Being the head of the Science Division definitely had its disadvantages.

He called Jemma's cell phone, but she didn't pick up.

He called Lucy, who was still at the Academy, so technically closer to him than home. But her classes should end soon and she'd go home then.

Somebody should be with her and Ben was too young. Lucy too, technically but --- Your children are always too young.

Fitz called both of them twice more, before the others had satisfied their curiosity enough to continue the meeting. He had to pretend to focus on what they were discussing.

He wasn't.

His mind was solely with Jemma.

 

-  
-

 

She saw the news and had to sit down immediately.

Tears sprung into her eyes.

Nobody deserved this fate.

Nobody deserved to be the loneliest person in the world.

 

_  
-

 

Three missed calls.

_Dad (3)_

He hadn't left any voice mails, so it surely wasn't too important. Lucy was almost home anyway and he was most likely asking her if she knew what they'd have for dinner or if she needed a ride home from Academy.

Since today the answer was No for both questions, Lucy didn't bother returning the calls. She got out of the car, balancing all of her stuff as best as possible and waved her friend Tallulah goodbye.

She walked up their drive way and put her index finger on the finger print scanner. The door was barely open, when she saw her little brother lurking on the other side of the door.

"Whatcha doing there, Benji?" She asked, piling some of her books in his hands. The one about drug interactions weighed more than her, she was sure. Pharmacology had its price, but is was so worth it.

"Waiting for you to come home." he said. Ben took the books without complaining. Having a thirteen year old brother as your minion had its perks, even if he complied less and less these days. They grew up so fast.

Lucy put her bag and the books and the kitchen counter.

"Have you seen the news?" Ben asked.

"Of course." She had it all on alert. Every single new development, ever little detail.

It wasn't like something of this magnitude happened every day. They had sent astronauts to space, to Mars, before. It was the third ARES mission after all.

But this mission had marked the first time, they had had to leave one of them because they had thought him to be dead. And now it turned out he was alive, all of the sudden.

Lucy didn't know how it must feel to be the astronaut stranded on Mars. It must be lonely, to be the only living soul on a whole, lifeless planet. She also didn't know how it must feel to be the crew, knowing one of their own was alive and they had left them behind.

Goosebumps rose on her skin. She didn't even want to think about it.

"Glad you're home." Ben had this undertone in his voice, when he wanted to say something but wasn't sure how to phrase it.

"Why?" she pressed.

"Mom ---" Ben narrowed his eyes and bit his lip at loss for words. "She's acting strange. She's crying."

Huh?

"About what?"

"The astronaut, I think. Watney."

That seemed strange. Her mom had a lot of love and sympathy to give, cared for so many people at once at SHIELD, but crying for a man she had never meant seemed out of the ordinary.

"Why?"

"Don't know." He shrugged. "But Aunt Bobbi called, asked if she could talk to her. But Mom didn't want to. Then Aunt Daisy called, asked if she was okay, if she wanted to talk. Even Melinda called, but Mom didn't want to talk to her either."

That caught her attention. "Melinda called?" She very rarely called, mostly visited when the occasion arose. Birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas. But she didn't call 'just because'. There was always a reason.

"Yep. Said Mom only has to say a word and she's here. I have no idea what's going on."

When Lucy entered the living room, it became apparent that something was very wrong. Her mother sat on the couch facing the TV, completely unmoving. She had her hands in her lap, balling them to fists with white knuckles.

"Mom."

She didn't respond.

"Mom?" Lucy didn't dare to sit down on the couch next to her, so she kneeled down on the floor in front of her. "What is it?"

"They need to save him. They need to bring him home." There were tears in her mother's dark brown eyes. Her tiny hands were shaking and Lucy realized that her whole body was trembling like a leaf in a hurricane.

Lucy had seen her mother cry before. Sometimes she had even been the reason behind it. When she had had her appendectomy at the age of 9, just after waking up from the anaesthesia. When she had hit puberty, and they had fought about the silliest things. When her grandpa had died and they had buried him in Sheffield.

But she had never seen her like this, dissolved in tears, on the edge of a breakdown. Her lips were pressed together into a thing white line

The screen continued to show footage of Ted Sanders, the NASA director at the press conference, and pictures of Mark Watney and the other members of the mission, currently stationed on HERMES.

"I'm sure they will."

"He's completely alone out there." Her mom said, voice low and defeated.

She didn't know how to respond to that. Mark Watney was alone, she was pretty sure about that.

"They won't to leave him behind. His crew, they won't ---" her mom said, but then stopped.

Lucy was unable to answer, to say anything, to do anything. There was her mother and she cried for an astronaut left int space. So she did what she could. She sat with her on the couch, watching the news and holding her while she cried.

 

-  
-

 

They still sat on the couch together, when her dad returned home. The TV was still on, but she had turned down the volume.

Lucy still held her mother's hand, when he entered the living room. She had drifted into a fitful sleep earlier, with her head on Lucy's shoulder. Ben had ordered them some pizza and had then retreated to his bedroom with the words, "Just tell me what this is about."

Dad came closer, sitting down on the other side of the couch, taking Mom's other hand.

"I'm sorry I couldn't leave sooner."

"It's okay." Lucy couldn't say anything else about this. She had spent the better part of the afternoon and the evening sitting on the couch and thinking about every possible scenario that might have triggered this response.

She was 99% sure it had something to do with SHIELD. Everything always was connected to SHIELD. Lucy knew next to nothing about the time before her birth, only that they had been a team and this team had become a family. Hell, they were her family too.

Lucy knew that her Aunt Daisy had become a superhero, despite the actual event being so classified, nobody talked about it.

(She wasn't stupid though. Neither the Terrigensis nor the Inhumans were a secret and she could perfectly put two and two together.)

Lucy knew, that her father had been in an accident and sometimes, on the very rare but particular bad days, he broke coffee mugs and equipment with his shaking hands.

(She found out about the 'accident' during her first year at the Academy. HYDRA and Ward were only whispered to one another, but everyone loudly called her parents heroes. She hadn't told them that she knew.)

"Are you going to tell me what this is about or do I need to pull out my abysmal hacking skills?"

"It's not your story to know and it's not mine to tell."

"Dad, what happened to Mom?" Lucy asked haltingly. She didn't know if she'd get an answer and she didn't know if she wanted one, but needed to hear him say anything.

He remained silent for a very long time, until he sighed.

"Exactly what happens to Mark Watney right now." He looked at her. "Only it wasn't Mars. It was worse."

Oh.

Oh.

_Oh._

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"You were kids, Luce."

"But ---"

He ran his hand over his face. "You were kids and all you ever want to do, is protect your children. We didn't want to burden you with our pain and we --- some things are better left behind."

Lucy nodded in absence of another possibility. She got up very slowly, anxious to wake her mother up. But she was probably too exhausted, her breathing didn't even change. "I need to study ---"

"Go."

She turned around once again in the hallway, and watched her parents on the couch. Her dad drew patterns into her mom's skin, softly kissing her temple. He whispered quiet words, inaudible to her ears.

Lucy was glad she couldn't hear them, they weren't meant for her. 

 

-  
-

 

She woke up early and started baking. Jemma loved baking, even at 4am in the morning.

It helped, keeping her mind from straying to dangerous place, helping her focus on a numb task. Baking reminded her of her times in the lab, where you had to follow a protocol to achieve your desired outcome.

Fitz groaned as she left the bed, asking her if she was okay and going to back to sleep almost immediately when she said yes. Jemma didn't begrudge him his sleep. He had stayed up with her late last night and they had watched the broadcast together.

She just hadn't been able to look away.

So Jemma baked.

Her mind was somewhere else, far far way, where wolves howled and a blue moon was shining, when there was some movement behind her. The urge to fight was barely there anymore, after years of not needing it. But yesterday had opened up some scars, so she needed a moment to compose herself.

"Those taste like stress-bake cupcakes." Lucy said. Jemma turned around to watch her. Half of it was already eaten and she had vanilla frosting on her nose. Classic Fitz, Jemma thought.

"They're just cupcakes."

Lucy mumbled something unintelligible, shoving another one into her mouth. The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable, but it was waiting. Waiting for a reaction, for something to happen.

"Thank you, for yesterday."

"No problem."

"Do you have questions?"

"Were you lonely?" Lucy looked so young, her eyes intently fixed on her.

Jemma closed her eyes. "Yes." she said very, very quietly.

"You don't have to tell me about it."

"I know. And I won't." Her daughter frowned. Jemma came closer and wrapped her into tight hug. "Not because I don't want you to know? Okay, I trust, honey. I love you. I love you so much. But I just can't ---"

"It's alright, Mom." Lucy breathed into her shoulder. Jemma let go and took a folder from the top of the refrigerator. 

"But I can give you this. It's the field report. You can read it if you want to."

"Thank you."

 

(The evening Lucy finally found the courage to read the report, they both cried all night long.)

 

-  
-

 

Mom was right. The HERMES found a way to turn around. _They are not going to leave him behind_ , rang in Lucy's ears.

The day they picked him up from Mars, a huge crowd gathered at the Academy Campus. Every gaze was fixed on the video walls. Together with the whole world, they collectively held their breath.

And together with the whole world, maybe the whole solar system, they started cheering madly when they had confirmation that Watney was safe on board of the HERMES.

Tears of joy ran down her cheeks. Lucy turned to her parents and found them crying too, their hands intertwined, whispering soft words to each other. She quickly looked away again, a moment too private to be watches.

They had found Mark Watney. 

They had brought him home.

Just like her mom.

 

-  
-

 

"Watney said in an interview that he wrote something into the sand? Did you too?"

"Yes."

"What was it?"

_"I was here."_

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think about it! You can also find me @ mightyjemma.tumblr.com :)


End file.
